PERTH, Australia – A teenage girl has been killed in a suspected shark attack in the Western Australian city of Perth after she jumped off her jet ski, police said Saturday.
The 16-year-old was pulled from the Swan River with critical injuries. Emergency services provided her with medical attention at the scene, but she died, Acting Police Inspector Paul Robinson said.
He said the victim was on jet skis with her friends. “A pod of dolphins may have been seen nearby and the young female jumped into the water to swim near the dolphins.
“The family was not there when this happened but her friends were there and as you can imagine this is an extremely traumatic incident for anyone to witness so obviously we are offering counseling to anyone who witnesses it was or was affected by it. the incident,” he said.
He said the Department of Fisheries had told him it was unusual for a shark to be this far downstream in the river, which flows through Perth into the Indian Ocean.
“I’ve spoken to the fisheries and marine police and unfortunately we have no idea what kind of shark it is,” Robinson said.
